Christian Petracca has made a stunning return from injury and Clayton Oliver kicked three goals, but it wasn't enough to lift a wayward Melbourne to victory in their 19-point pre-season loss to Fremantle in Western Australia.
Petracca was close to dying after suffering devastating internal injuries in the King's Birthday loss to Collingwood on June 10.
But he showed no ill effects during Sunday's practice match at Mandurah's Rushton Park, tallying 33 disposals, nine clearances and 594m gained in Melbourne's 16.13 (109) to 11.24 (90) loss.
Oliver also starred with three goals, 28 disposals and 11 clearances in another promising sign for the Demons, while Max Gawn (46 hitouts) was inspirational by putting his body on the line time and again.
On the downside for Melbourne, forward Jacob van Rooyen lasted less than 40 seconds before hobbling off with back spasms, ruling him out for the rest of the match.
Gawn's dominance in the ruck helped Melbourne win the clearance battle 45-27, but their inaccuracy in the windy conditions cost them the chance to snare a win in front of 7458 fans.
"For him to come out and deliver that sort of performance, it speaks a lot for him as a player and as a human," Melbourne assistant Troy Chaplin said of Petracca.
"He said he was a little bit anxious, a little bit nervous (before the game).
"But he's done a power of work, not only on his body, but also his mindset.
"It was a pretty tough period there for him for a fair while.
"To see him play the way he did, it's a credit to him, because he's had to jump through a few mental hoops as well. He's come back in fantastic condition."
For Fremantle, new recruit Shai Bolton impressed in flashes with two goals from 13 disposals, while veteran forward Michael Walters kicked three goals.
Dockers winger Nathan O'Driscoll (two goals) showed plenty of attacking flair, and Josh Treacy (two goals) was a force to be reckoned with in attack before being rested for the final term.
Petracca had a productive opening quarter with seven disposals and three clearances.
He won the first clearance of the match, narrowly missed a 55m shot on the run midway through the term, and almost ran down Bolton later in the quarter.
Bolton fluffed his first chance on goal, spraying his dribble shot instead of handballing over the top to the unmarked Treacy.
But he showed his class a short time later when he sharked the ball from a ruck tap, shrugged off a tackler before snapping truly just a second before the quarter-time siren sounded.
Fremantle led by just five points at quarter-time, but it blew out to 36 by halftime as the Dockers kicked five goals to nil in the second quarter.
Bolton kicked his second after O'Driscoll took the game on in the midfield.
And Walters provided one of the highlights of the match when he tapped the ball forward in a bid to escape an opponent, then tapped it the other way through his legs before snapping truly.
Gawn kicked a team-lifting 50m goal to start the third quarter, and Oliver chipped in with two of his own as the margin was whittled back to 14 points.
But goals to Walters and Treacy gave Fremantle a 26-point buffer at the final change, with the lead proving to be enough.
